MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE ON ROUTE 66 MUSCLE CARS ROAM FREE

Life lived on Route 66 isn’t always a grand adventure. It just seems that way.

Yesterday Martin Swanty Chrysler in Kingman hosted a lunch for muscle car enthusiasts headed for Mopars on the Strip in Las Vegas. This is an annual stop but it never ceases to amaze.

Seldom will you find such a display of rare high performance cars, and a few even rarer luxury cars from the late 1950′ to the modern era in one location. It is even rarer to see such a collection in their native habitat – the streets of America. Needless to say, more than a bit of rubber was left on Route 66 yesterday.
A gallery of photos from the gathering of Mopar muscle will be posted on the official Jim Hinckley Facebook page. Here is a link for that page.

Today should be quite full. I will meet with a tour from New Zealand and speak about Route 66, and the have a delightful visit with the tax accountant.
In the morning I kick off what promises to be a very full weekend with an eagerly anticipated breakfast meeting with Toshiyuki Goto. Toshi is traveling Route 66 this week and is working to establish the Japanese Route 66 Association.

Long term planning is not something that Americans are known for. I am no exception. Still, the 2016 calendar has a very big red ring around the weekend of July 16. That is the scheduled date for the very first European Route 66 Festival. You can bet the bottom dollar we will lend support wherever possible and make every effort to attend.
While we are on the subject of support, if your a Route business owner or director of a Route 66 museum or association, there is still time to put in your two cents worth. The value of the report on the state of the road from the perspective of folks with a heavily vested interest in its future is directly related to the number of contributors.
To date, through phone calls or email I have had an impressive response. Several state and international Route 66 associations have provided their views. The Route 66 business community has been even more responsive.
From Mannie Medelson on Santa Monica Pier to Connie Echols at the Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Bill Thomas in Atlanta, Illinois and Kaisa Barthuli with the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program the response received should allow me to craft a fairly accurate portrayal of perceived challenges facing the Route 66 community, as well as provide some serious optimism about the future.
Your input would be greatly appreciated. In addition to business owners, I would also like to hear from enthusiasts.
The self publishing endeavor is moving forward albeit slowly. Having the ability to take the helm and make course corrections with no consultation aside from that of my dearest friend is proving to be a blessing as well as a curse.
As a primary reason for this venture was test the self publishing waters, and as our season is about to get quite busy, the decision has to keep this book smaller than originally envisioned. It will also have a more focused content.
In a nutshell it will be a guidebook to the sites and the history of the Kingman area based on my personal half century association. It will include a detailed walking tour of Kingman itself. Does this sound as though it might be of interest?
Well, here is to an interesting, productive, and adventuresome weekend. Adios for now.